


Ties in the Front

by Catchclaw



Series: Mental Mimosa [38]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medical, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 11:15:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14810318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catchclaw/pseuds/Catchclaw
Summary: “Get undressed,” the nurse said briskly. “Underwear, socks, the whole lot, then put that on with the ties in the front.”“In the front,” Tony repeated. “Ok.”





	Ties in the Front

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: I just bought my first sex toy and didn’t realize that it’s not supposed to go in THERE. So now I’m in the emergency room, embarrassed as hell and you’re my doctor…you’re also the hottest person I’ve ever seen.
> 
> Prompt from this [generator](http://colormayfade.tumblr.com/generator).
> 
> I ran away from most of this prompt but liked the idea of Dr. Bucky Barnes. Yes.

“Get undressed,” the nurse said briskly. “Underwear, socks, the whole lot, then put that on with the ties in the front.”

“In the front,” Tony repeated. “Ok.”

“Hop on the table there and the doctor will be with you in a few. All right?”

 _Hardly_ , Tony thought, but he did his best to mask his anxiety with his most glittering, golden boy smile. “Of course. Thank you"--he double checked her name tag-- "uh, Sasha.”

She nodded, one short, sharp bob of the head. Lord, how did a woman that young manage to look so goddamn stern? And then she said, a bit more human than before: “Don’t worry. You’ll like Dr. Barnes. He’s very good.”

Tony waited until she was gone, until the door was closed behind her to mutter: “Not sure I can like anybody who gets to see me naked for free. How about dinner? Could he buy me dinner first? Is that too much to ask?”

In his mind, the part that wasn’t determined to be thoroughly freaked, he could recognize the necessity of this little horror show. Not only did his board like to be reassured once a year that he wasn’t actively about to kick the bucket--they’d made it part of his annual review process, for god’s sake--but there was a history of stroke on his mom’s side and heart disease, cancer, and general malcontentedness on his father’s, so it was good to have somebody with an MD kick the tires every once and while. He got that. It was.

But it was also certified fucking awful to strip in a cold room with a paper-spread table, to stand in the same place a thousand others had and slip on a ridiculous gown thing that technically tied in the front but in reality barely fucking closed and then to wait for some person he’d never seen before to waltz in and put their hands all over his body. And possibly give him a shot. God, he hated shots.

“Fuck,” he said to himself, to carefully covered window, to the stop smoking posters that lined every wall.

“Well,” a voice said at the door, “at least let me buy you dinner first.”

It took Tony a second to process that somebody else had spoken, that his subconscious wasn’t off on a bender; a second longer to grasp that the man in the doorway, the one who’d slipped in silent, the one who was standing there with his arms folded and a sly, pretty grin wasn’t a stranger at all.

“Bucky?!” he said.

Bucky--Dr. Barnes, jesus--sauntered in and set a clipboard on the counter, looking for all the world like a cat who’d swallowed Big Bird. “Hey, Tony. Long time no see. Ten years, right?”

Tony’s mouth was a fucking frozen tundra. “Uh, yeah. Give or take.”

“Uh huh.” Bucky thrust his chin out. “Lie back.”

“Lie--?” Oh god. Tony’s face went full tequila sunrise because, hey, shit, he was naked in front of his hot-as-hell ex who looked far too good in a labcoat to be legal and said ex was clearly reveling in his discomfort and instead of making Tony uneasy, it was kind of turning him on. 

“On the table,” Barnes said, pointing. “It’s not that hard.”

 _Not yet_ , Tony thought, semi-hysterical.

Bucky tilted his head and the ice blue of his eyes softened, just a touch. “Hey, I know this is weird, Tone. If I'd known it was you, I never would've--" He stopped, started again. "I can go get one of the other docs if you like. Dr. Carter's free, I think, or--”

“No,” Tony said. “No, thanks. It’s fine. It’s just--a surprise to see you again. At all. Period. Much less in here. With a stethoscope.”

“And a tongue depressor,” Bucky said. “They let me have one of those, too.”

“Wow. Clearly you graduated at the top of your class.”

A smile. “Third, actually. But who’s counting?” He reached out and tapped Tony’s shoulder. “Come on. Lie back.”

Tony scooted up a little and stretched out, one arm folded awkwardly behind his head. He stared at the ceiling, one of those awful popcorn jobs, and told himself to breath. In and out, Stark. In and out. Which worked fine until Bucky’s head appeared above him, until his fingers found the wholly inadequate knots that held Tony’s gown not at all closed.

“I’m gonna open you up now,” Bucky said.

 _Christ_. “Yep,” Tony said faintly. “Ok.”

The ties fell one by one. “Any pain I should know about? Any aches? Anything sharp?”

“No,” Tony lied. _Just the fucking shock of seeing you_.

“Mmmm,” Bucky said. “Ok. Tell me if anything hurts while I do this, ok?”

Tony lay on that damn table bare, spread open to the world, to the one that got away, and then Bucky was touching him, strong, confident fingers moving over his chest, up to his lymph nodes and back down over his ribs and Tony could see it in his face, the moment Barnes found the scar.

“Christ, Tony,” he said, sounding like the cocky kid who’d dropkicked Tony’s heart all those years ago, “what the fuck did you do to yourself?”


End file.
